Upright
2019
Original language: English
- comedy
- drama
The story
When family outcast Lucky Flynn learns that his mother is dying, he decides to drive to the other side of Australia to see her, packing nothing but an upright piano for the journey. But his plans are soon turned upside down when he meets the runaway teenager Meg, who’s dealing with some family demons of her own.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached road vistas, wide dusty highways and scrubby desert under hard daylight, with the Western Australian coast turning the colour of bleached bone at the edges. The camera tends to hold on the open landscape and on a battered old truck with a piano lashed in the back, so the frame keeps reminding you how small these people are against the country. Sound is mostly a loose, unhurried score with piano at its centre, and the songs and the tinkle of keys on the move carry much of the emotional weight. The tone blends dry, self-deprecating comedy with real grief, and the pacing is easy and episodic, like a long drive with stops. Its people are a damaged, stubborn man and a restless teenager slowly finding a way to travel together. Themes include a dying parent, family fractures, and suicidal thoughts, handled with tenderness and some sharp humour rather than graphic detail, and violence is minimal. It suits a long weekend watch, a thoughtful evening on your own, or anyone who wants melancholy softened by warmth and music.
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